Apple Splits
iPod and Macintosh into Div's, some Executives sell a load of stocks.

Apple Computer Inc. has startled the industry and most
Mac owners today, by announcing that it has created a new separate division
within the company for its popular iPod digital music player. Nothing
was said regarding the music sales side of the business. That will leave
the Macintosh in a division by itself.

Apple has sold more than 3 million iPods since its launch
in October 2001 and now the iPod Mini has created such a frenzy that
it’s hard to find too.

Jon Rubinstein, who has led the Cupertino, California-based
company's hardware engineering efforts, will run the new division, an
Apple spokesman said.

Timothy Cook, who was head of Apple's worldwide sales
and operations, will lead a newly organized Macintosh division. Tim
Bucher, now in charge of Macintosh system development, will head up
the Mac's hardware engineering, according to the Apple announcement.

The new divisional breakup of products and the personnel
moves were announced in a company-wide internal e-mail sent by Steve
Jobs, co-founder of Apple and Apple's chairman - chief executive.

"This organizational refinement will focus our
talent and resources even more precisely on our industry-leading Macintosh
computers and the wildly successful iPod," the spokesman said.

Industry analysts have speculated that Apple might ultimately
broaden the uses for an iPod beyond playing music, such as for watching
movies.

This move comes
as Apple increasingly focuses its business on the iPod and generally
on it’s music sales via the iTunes Music Store. Last quarter,
Apple said it sold more iPods than Macs--the first time that occurred.
It’s no secret that the Macintosh continues to lose market share
and perhaps the focus of the Apple’s founder, Steve Jobs.

There are a lot of
Mac owners wondering if this isn't very bad omen. A familiar trait of
big corporations is to split off hot and slow products into separte divisions
to either spin off the loser, sell it off or kill it. Lets hope not!

Ca-ching, ca-ching-
With the popular iPod music player driving their company's rising share
price, six top Apple Computer executives cashed in stock options for multimillion-dollar
gains last month.

The moves were the
first insider stock sales in almost two years at the Cupertino computer
maker.

Timothy Cook, Apple's executive vice president of worldwide sales and
operations, collected the biggest payoff. He exercised options to buy
1.36 million Apple shares for prices ranging from $16.81 to $17.31 each
April 19-23, according to Thomson Financial. Over the same days, Cook
sold those shares for prices ranging from $27.46 to $28.53 each, for a
gain of $14.75 million.

Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering Jonathan Rubinstein exercised
options to buy 700,000 company shares for prices ranging from $6.63 to
$16.81 each April 19-29. He then sold those shares for prices ranging
from $26.70 to $28.35 each, for a gain of $12.67 million.

"A major part of Apple's senior management compensation is based
on stock appreciation," Apple said in a statement. "It's great
to see some members of our management team get rewarded for their incredibly
hard work by selling some of their stock."

The Apple executives who sold in April retain significant holdings in
options to buy company shares.